Moving Day

Today our “Unaccompanied Baggage” is being packed and (hopefully) sent on its way to Okinawa. In a utopian move – and like dry land in Waterworld – such a thing is the stuff of legend and myth, this “UB” would get there shortly after we arrive. So, it’d be things like the most basics of the kitchen and bathroom that would support some measure of cooking and hygiene until the main shipment of household goods arrives.

Our “toys” are more of the “adult” flavor….

Picking these items, however, is much harder than it may appear at first glance! The real puzzle is, by staying under 1,000 pounds of shipment, what exactly would you bring? Another interesting way of looking at the same issues is this: if you had to cast away all the flotsam and jetsam in your life and compress your belongs down to a mere one thousand pounds, what would you have? While this may seem relatively easy at first glance, real conflict can happen when decisions must be made to jettison “stuff,” which in the American culture, as witnessed by the sheer number of rentable storage facilities, seems to be equated with success and/or happiness.

Neither is true.

Pack Only What Your Heart Desires

Home is where the heart is as the cliché goes. But, like most clichés, this contains a jewel of absolute truth, bolstered by the wise, having stood the test of ages. And while Jody and I are still combining our “stuff,” which has made this move especially stressful and complex, my heart remains with her, wherever that may take me.

And fortunately for me, there remain small pieces of my heart scattered throughout Okinawa from my other postings there. After all, it is a second home.